dirkes



2 Sheets-Sheet 1,

(No Model.)

H.-A. DIRKES. COMBINED DUST ARRESTER AND VENTILATOR FOR ems.

No. 451,465. Patented May 5,1891.

.HW X .M Z q fi 1 IL v M 0 w 0 F INVENTOR:

no, msmnarou n c (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. A. DIRKES. COMBINED DUST ARRESTER AND VENTILATOR FOR CARS.

Patented May 5,1891.

O 11 lg O o l O o l witnesses catedby line 2 2 in Fig. 1.

UNITED STATES PATE T nron.

HENRY DIRKES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COMBINED DUST-ARRESTER AND VENT'ILATOR FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,465, dated May 5,1891.

Application filed August 9, 1890- Serial No. 361,592. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. DIRKES, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have inventedcertain Improvements in Combined Dust-Arresters and Ventilators forCars, of

which the following is a specification.

' removed for cleaning and moistening, said filter beingof a novelconstruction itself, and in part to provide a novel construction of thehousings for said filter, whereby fresh air enters the car through thefilter and the vitiated air is withdrawn from the car, in whicheverdirection the car may be moving, without the necessity of shifting orsetting any of the parts when the motion of the car is to be reversed,said housing being so arranged that the passenger or train-man mayconveniently regulate both the inflow and outflow of the air.

My invention will be hereinafter fully described, and its novel featurescarefully defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,illustrative of my invention,Figure 1 is afront elevation of a dust-arrester and ventilator mounted in the side ofa railway-car under the sash of a window. This device embodiesmyinvention and represents the device as seen from the inside of thecar. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the device, taken in the planeindi- Figs. 3 and 3 are vertical sections of' the device, taken,respectively, on the lines 3 3 and 3 3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is aperspective view of the air-filter detached and drawn to a large scale,and Fig. 4 illustrates a slightly modified construction of said filter.Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate the application of my air-filter to anairadmitting opening in the end of the car,F1g. 5 being a front view,and Fig. 6 a transverse section.

I will first describe the device as illustrated in Figs. 1 to at. 0:represents the side of the carat a window, and y represents the sash andglass of the window. Setinto the side of the car below the window or atthe bottom of the window-opening is abox or housing,which may be made ofWood, metal, or other suitable substance. This housing may also be ofany desired size and proportion. In the drawings I have shown it of thesame width as the Window-openin g and as having a vertical depth equalto about one-fourth of its width. This housing a is divided at themiddle of its width by a hollow vertical partition a into two chambersorsections,which are fitted up alike, will be described. Each chamberisfitted up with keepers, as at a a and with a screen a H of finewire-gauze at the outer side of the chamber. Within the chamber andextending across the same inside of the wire screen is a removableair-filter h, which is held in place by the keepers a and is insertedand withdrawn through an opening in the top of the housing a. All theair entering the car through the housing must pass through the screenand filter. The arrow .2 in Fig. 2 indicates the direction in which thecar is supposed to be moving. In order to gather the air and deflect itinto the car, I provide the housing a with like eXteriorly-arrangedcasings c and 0*, provided with curved or inclined interiorly-arrangeddeflectors c 0. These casings c c are arranged back to back and havetheir open ends or mouths directed oppositely, one toward the one end ofthe car and the other toward the other end of the same. When the car ismoving in the direction indicated by the arrow z, the air is forced intothe mouth of the casing c and deflected into the forward chamber by thecurved deflector thereon. It passes the screen and filter of the forwardchamber and enters the car purified. At the same time the rapid movementof the car produces a partial vacuum at the mouth of the casin g e andthe air from the car passes out from the car through the rearwardchamber of the housing a. Then the motion of the car is reversed, theresult is the same, except that the devices that were before in frontwill be at the rear.

In order that the inflow and outflow of the air maybe regulated orcutoff entirely,I pro vide the housing a with two registers 01 d on theinside of the car, one for each chamber of the housing, and provide eachregister with an operating-knob (1. These registers are of a well-knownconstruction and will not require any minute description.

Over the registers on the inside of the car I place an open-workfrontispiece c, partly for the protection of the registers and partlyfor the sake of appearance. This frontispiece forms the insidefrontplate ofthe chambered housing a. It may sometimes be desirable,particularly in very cold weather, to more effectually cut off theentrance of air, and I prefer to provide the air-gathering casings c and0 with cut-off devices at or near their open months. As these aresubstantially alike, but capable of independent operation, a descriptionof one will suffice for both.

In a chamber at the end of the housing a is mounted a slide g, adaptedto be moved out across the casing e and to close the same. The operativemechanism of this slide consists of a lever 71, fulcrumed on a pivot inthe roof-plate of the casing c. The longer arm of this lever is coupledto a slide-rod iin the hollow central partition a. This rod projectsthrough the frontispiece c, and is provided with an operating knob orhead 1". Bygrasping this knob and drawing out the rod 5 the slide g willbe drawn out, so as to close the mouth of the casing c in whole or inpart. These slides, which may be operated by any known means, are notessential to my invention.

It will be seen that the device as described is double, or consists oftwo like parts arranged in one housing and reversed in position, eachsection or part being capable of control or regulation independently ofthe other.

I will now describe with special. reference to Figs. 2 and l the mode ofconstructing the air-filter.

j is a frame, which will be made of tinned iron or galvanized sheetmetal by preference and of the proper size and proportions to slide downin the slideways formed by the keepers a and to form a removablepartition across the chamber of the housing. In this framej are arrangedstrips 7:, of felt or similar absorbent material, which extend acrossthe frame, and have their surfaces or planes arranged obliquely to theface of the filter and to the path of the current of air flowing throughthe same. The object of this arrangement is to compel the air in itspassage through the filter to impinge upon the oblique faces of saidstrips. I prefer to employ two or more of such strips and to give thestrips of the two adjacent series opposite obliquities, as shown. Thestrips of one series may be arranged to stand opposite to the spacesbetween those of the adjacent series, as seen in Fig. si if desired. Anymode of securing the strips 7.". in the frame j may be employed. Iprefer to form slits in the frame and to pass the material which formsthe strips back and forth through these slits from side to side of theframe. Over the faces of the frame are or may be stretched crossedstrands Z of some loosely-twisted fibrous material, as candlc-wicking,for example. For convenience in placing this material on the frame thelatter may be perforated at intervals along its edges, as seen in Fig.4, and the strands passed through these holes and back and forth overthe frame.

The filter may be provided with a suitable handle at for removing itfrom the casing, and the strips 7; may extend across it vertically, asin Fig. l, or horizontally, as in Fig. 4. The crossed strands areomitted from the filter, as illustrated in Fig. at, and I do notconsider them essential to my invention.

In using my device the train-man will at proper intervals draw out thefilter l) and dip it in water or other liquid suitable for moistcningthe strips 7.: and strands 7, and then replace it in the housing a. Theairin passin g through the gauze screen a" is deprived of largeparticles, such as straws, large ciuders, and the like, and in passingthrough the filter every particle of the dust-laden air must encounterthe moist filaments orsurfaces of the same and leave the dust particlesadhering to these surfaces.

My filter is constructed with a view of offering a free although notunobstructed passage for the air and to provide passages of such anature that the air cannot avoid impinging upon surfaces adapted toseize and hold the particles of dust, which are thus eliminated from theair before it can enter the car.

In Figs. 5 and (i, the former of which is an elevation and the latter atransverse vertical section, I have illustrated the application of myfilter to the end of the car. In these views the filter Z is mountedremovably in a housing 22, secured to the end as of the car on theinside and having an open-work front plate a. The filter is mounted inthe same manner as that before described, and the register is omitted. Aregister may, however, be employed in this embodiment of my invention.The housing it covers an opening in the end of the car, and is thisopenin This opening may be provided with a wire screen (0 011 theoutside of the car, as seen in Fig. 0.

I may say that in some casesas in very hot weather, for example, whenfree Ventilation. of the car is desired-the filter Z) may be removedfrom the rear chamber of the device, so as to permit the air to flow themore freely from the ear. The ready removability of the filter makesthis very easy, and under such circumstances when the car is to start onthe return trip it will only be necessary to remove the filters from theforward chambers, cleanse them, and then placethem in the other chambersfor the next trip.

The gauze screens a are only auxiliary devices. Good results may beattained without them. The slides 1 may also be omitted, if desired.

While I prefer to mount my device atthe bottom of the car-window forlateral ventilation, it may as well be placed in any part of the car atthe side, or it may be mounted in the roof of the car. In any case thehousing of the device will be mounted in some part of the car-wall-thatis, the ends, sides, or roofand will provide a passage or passages forthe ingress and egress of air.

Ihave used the letters 0 and 0 to designate the two casings of thedevice that are arranged outside of the car; but this is only forconvenience of description and does not imply any difference between thetwo casings.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a dust-arrester andventilator for cars, the combination of a double-chambered housingmounted in the car-wall, exterior casings connected with the respectivechambers of said housing and facing in opposite directions, deflectorsfor deflecting the air which enters the easing into the car through saidhousing an air-filter for filtering the air before it enters the carthrough said housing, and independently-operated registers forcontrolling the ingress and egress of air through the respectivechambers of said housing when the car is in motion, substantially as setforth.

2. In a dust-arrester and ventilator for cars, the combination, with thedouble-chambered housing provided with deflectors and exterior casingsfacing in opposite directions, whereby the air will enter the car by wayof one casin g and pass out of the car at the other, of the air-filtersarranged across the passages in said housings, said filters eachconsisting of strips of fibrous material arranged obliquely to the pathof the air flowing in and out, whereby the outflow of air issubstantially unobstructed.

3. An air-filter consisting of a supportingframe and one or more seriesof flat strips of absorbent material extending across said frame, withtheir faces oblique to the face of the frame, substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

et. An air-filter 1), consisting of a frame j, provided with obliqueslits on two of its opposite sides, and flat strips k of absorbentmaterial extending across said frame and through said slits, as setforth.

5. An airfilter 1), consisting of a frame j and two series ofobliquely-arranged flat strips 70 of absorbent material extending acrossthe same, as described, the strips of the two series having oppositeobliquities, as and for the purposes set forth.

6. An air-filter Z7, consisting of a frame 3', one or more series ofobliquely-arranged flat strips of absorbent material extending acrossthe same, and a series of crossed strands Z of fibrous materialextending across the said frame, as set forth.

In witness whereof 'I have hereunto signed my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

HENRY A. DIRKES.

. Witnesses:

HENRY CONNER, J. D. CAPLINGETT.

